Lattitude 27� 28' S Longitude 153� 01' E Current Local Time 2:10pm, Tuesday, March 14 (GMT+10)

Situated on the banks of the meandering Brisbane River, Brisbane, the capital of the "Sunshine State", Queensland, is located roughly half way up the east coast of Australia. With a population of 1.8 million people, Brisbane is the third largest and fastest growing city in Australia (Sydney being the largest, Melbourne the second largest).

The eastern suburbs spread out along the shoreline of Moreton Bay with Moreton and Stradbroke Islands separating Brisbane from the Coral Sea.

To the near north is the city of Redcliffe, to the near south the city of Logan and to the west the city of Ipswich. Further west the landscape quickly turns to open farmland and more isolated communities before the steep climb up the Great Diving Range, a series of mountain ranges that stretches along the entire length of the east coast of Australia.

Further north and south of Brisbane are the Sunshine and Gold Coasts, both popular tourist destinations nestled between open ocean surf beaches and near coastal mountain ranges. Tweed Heads, on the Gold Coast, separates Queensland from the neighbouring state of New South Wales.






Brisbane enjoys a sub-tropical climate. Spring is generally characterised by warm days and cool nights, especially away from the coast, with durinal ranges sometimes exceeding 30 degrees.

January, February and March are the wettest months of the year and many of the cities most extreme flooding events have occured in these months. Most recently, the floods of 1974, the most extensive city flooding in Australia's history, resulted in the unundation of one third of the metropolitan area (approximately 40 suburbs) with over 6000 homes flooded to some degree and over 9000 people left homeless. The highest flood peak ever recroded in Brisbane occured in 1983 when heavy rainfall in the upper reaches of the Stanley River, which drains into the Brisbane River, raised the level of the river up to 3 metres higher than normal which resulted in widespread unundation and loss of life through the city, killing 35 people, injuring 300 and leaving over 5000 homeless.

The completion of the Wivenhoe Dam in 1983, Brisbanes main source of water supply, reduces the frequency of flooding in the Brisbane river below the dam, however major flooding can still occur.

Although storms can occur at any time of the year, Brisbane experiences a distinct storm season with the majority of the 33 (average) thunderdays recorded at the Airport each year occuring in the months of October through to April. Brisbane is no stranger to severe storms with, on average, 2-4 severe storms effecting the greater Brisbane area every year with the highest frequency of severe storms occuring in the late spring and early summer months of November, December and January. Several areas surrounding Brisbane, including the coastal plain SW of the city, the Queensland and New South Wales Border Ranges and the Brisbane Valley NW of Brisbane experience a much higher frequency of severe storms.